If you wear jewelry all the time, it’s tempting to leave it on when swimming, especially if you don’t want to leave it in the locker room or if it’s an item of sentimental value, like a wedding ring. But if you’re in your backyard pool, visiting a local public pool, or hitting the beach, wearing your jewelry into the water for any amount of time is a serious mistake. The dangers of swimming with your jewelry on are hazardous to your precious baubles—and even your life.
Water isn’t the only thing in a swimming pool or the ocean—we keep pools clean with chlorine, and the water in the ocean is salty and abrasive. Chlorine will eat through low karat gold and silver, chewing through the other metals in the ring, like copper, nickel, and zinc.
Since rose gold has a high concentration of copper, these pieces face more risk than others. Pure gold and platinum resist corrosion from chlorine; if you trust yourself not to lose them, you can bring gold and platinum jewelry into the pool or hot tub.
Saltwater affects the same range of jewelry—plated, low karat gold, silver, or rose gold. Not only will it wear down the metal band and fittings, but it will also dull the gemstone.
When your hands enter cold water, your fingers shrink as a natural response. Shrinking fingers means loose-fitting rings. If your rings fall off in a pool, you could find them after pool maintenance or cleaning—but if they fall off in a lake or ocean, you’ll likely never see them again. And once the fittings corrode due to chlorine or saltwater exposure, you might lose the gemstones to the depths below, too.
Swimming in the warm ocean waters puts you in shark territory—and sharks love to attack schools of fish with shimmering, shiny scales. If you’re in the ocean and loaded with jewelry, you put yourself at risk of a shark attack, as the predators may confuse your jewelry with the scales of their favorite snacks.
While this is uncommon, if you get too close to a pool drain while wearing jewelry, you risk getting stuck on the drain and drowning. The suction can pull your jewelry, hair, and hands into the drain and keep you at the bottom of the pool until you drown. It may sound gruesome, but it’s one of the main dangers of swimming with your jewelry on.
In any of these scenarios, you can avoid putting your jewelry at risk in the first place by using a portable ring case to hold your beautiful rings, necklaces, and earrings while you take a dip. A protective LoveLocker jewelry case will secure your precious belongings in your gym or beach bag while you have some fun in the water.
